


But With Them, You Get Somewhere

by roserelease



Category: DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws
Genre: F/F, F/M, Frottage, Hand Jobs, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 16:14:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roserelease/pseuds/roserelease
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a successful mission, Isabel invites the Outlaws back to her hotel room for a relaxing night of celebration. All goes well. And then Roy opens his big mouth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But With Them, You Get Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Anonymous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous/gifts).



> This is fic is dedicated to an amazingly nice and thoughtful Anon who has written too many askbox fics for me to even count. This story was their idea, I merely offered to write it up for them.
> 
> Major thanks and internet hugs go to nuclidic for beta'ing this as well as letting me bug them over skype during the editting process.
> 
> The title is inspired by a lyric found in the song "Who Is In Your Heart Now" by the Studio Killers (who are awesome, everyone should go listen + buy their new album. Do it do it do it!)

A heavy silence fell over the group after Roy asked the question, with only the low hum of the bedroom’s television to fill in the sudden dead air. 

It took Jason all of one second to realize how inevitable this conversation truly was. 

Up until then, the night had been going well. They’d completed a difficult mission early in the evening that had left them sore but pleased and stuck on their “borrowed” alien cruiser, still deciding the next course of action and whether or not they wanted a small break or not. Sometime during the go-nowhere debate Isabel called Jason’s cell. She’d just finished a fourteen hour shift over in a nearby city and was officially off duty. And at her insistence – as well as Roy’s, once the archer caught wind of Isabel’s idea – the three of them were invited to her hotel room to celebrate their success. 

At first Jason resisted, inquired if she wouldn’t rather a _private_ night with just the two of them. Isabel simply teased him with the knowledge that so long as she wasn’t spontaneously called in she would have several nights off, and that she’d only invited his allies along for the night.

Given that Isabel’s hotel was far closer than the nearest safe house and a certain somebody wouldn’t shut up about how great a night in it would be – and, all right, maybe Jason was _also_ beginning to miss Isabel more than he liked to admit - he eventually gave in and agreed. 

They got their own room upon arrival, but it ended up being nothing more than a short pit stop for them to drop off a couple things before they went over to Isabel’s room, a floor down and on the opposite half of the hotel entirely. When they arrived she greeted them with hugs and an extra kiss on the cheek for Jason, then commanded that they sit down and help themselves to the room’s mini fridge.

At first it was only Isabel and Roy that bothered with the bed at all. Both of them immediately stretched out across its soft covers, Isabel leaning back against the headboard, Roy lying on his front while he flipped through the handful of channels the hotel service provided. Jason naturally took his spot by the desk while Kori sat on the room’s only armchair, eyeing the room curiously as she shifted every now and then in her seat. But their arrangement didn’t last very long. Isabel and Roy soon began to taunt and tease Jason and Kori for their standoffishness, Roy even going so far as to ponder aloud whether Jason and Kori were worried if they’d bite or not. 

Eventually Kori gave a small shrug, said something about the chair being uncomfortable anyway as she pulled herself up and crawled onto the bed to join the others. Then she softly patted the mattress, and with a teasing glint in her brilliant green eyes she said, “Come, Jason. If I must suffer amongst the commoners, then so shall you.”

With a soft sigh, Jason decided to save himself the trouble and just join them already. Anything to keep from the three of them staring at him the way they did. He took his place beside Isabel against the headboard, offering her a slight smile when she beamed up at him and gently stroked his hand, as though silently thanking him. 

The four of them spent most of the night chatting about whatever they felt like over the soft murmuring of the TV, regaling Isabel with tales of their latest mission in return for stories of strange passengers Isabel had met and dealt with over the course of the week. As the evening passed into night, Jason began to feel himself relaxing for once, the built-up tension in his back and shoulders gradually seeping out. He began to earnestly enjoy himself and the company he’d inexplicably surrounded himself with, people he still couldn’t believe wanted anything to do with him. But low and behold, there they were right beside him, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

It had been one of the most relaxing nights he’d had in a long time.

At least up until Roy opened his big mouth.

But he couldn’t exactly say that he was surprised in the slightest. He suspected Roy had been itching to ask that kind of question all night from the way he had been eyeing the two of them – Isabel and Kori – all night, perhaps even longer. For all Jason knew he had wanted to ask ever since Isabel slowly started to become a regular amongst the group during their off time. 

He could already feel his answer bubbling at the back of his throat, a good old hearty “ _Fuck_ no.” But he tightened his jaw and kept it to himself, because it wasn’t him the question was directed towards. 

“You really want me to kiss Kori?” Isabel’s bright and wide eyes darted over the three Outlaws sitting around her.

“It wouldn’t be any different from kissing Jason,” Roy replied, as though he was trying to convince her to just jump in the pool already, the water wasn’t _that_ cold. Jason’s jaw clenched a little harder. “Well, I dunno, maybe it’s different. Kori’s lips are way bigger than his. And there’s this thing Kori can do with her tongue—”

“ _Whoa_ there, tiger! It’s not that.” A light flush reddened Isabel’s cheeks and ears, which darkened when she briefly caught Kori’s eye. “I don’t know what Jason might’ve told any of you about me, but it’s not like I’ve never kissed another woman before.”

“Then what’s the problem?” Roy blurted.

“ _Roy_ ,” Jason started to warn. Before he could say anything further, Kori let out a soft sigh and pushed back some of her long red hair, which had fallen over half her face and rested over her shoulders in long waves of scarlet. Some of it caught on the spaghetti strap of her white tank top as she did so; Jason didn’t miss the way Roy and Isabel’s eyes caught right along with it.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the problem is that I intimidate you,” she said.

If Isabel didn’t look like a deer in the headlights before, she certainly did then. For the first time that evening she stared straight into Kori’s eyes and maintained contact for longer than a split second. 

She worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “Sort of,” she admitted. “Okay, yeah. You do. Can you blame me?”

Kori tilted her head slightly. In spite of her carefully neutral expression, Jason could hear the faintest tint of disappointment in her voice. It was so slight that if she had spoken with the same tone back when he’d first met her, he knew he would have missed it entirely. 

“And it’s because I’m an ‘alien,’ is it not?”

Isabel shook her head, a shaky chuckle escaping her. “Heh. No, actually. When you’re a flight attendant you meet all kinds of people from all sorts of places, aliens included. I met your crew, didn’t I? And I was fine then. Mostly.” She smiled, small but genuine. “To be honest, if I’d met you a few years ago I might’ve been nervous about that, but I’m nothing like I was back then. Besides,” she caught Jason’s eye, “if Jason trusts you, then I know I can, too.”

A curious look passed over Kori’s face, but she said nothing. Isabel cleared her throat and leaned towards the nearby nightstand for her glass of water. For a moment it seemed as though the subject had been dropped. But Jason didn’t even have the time to try and hide his relief before Roy suddenly snapped his fingers and opened his big mouth yet again.

“Oh, I get it! It’s because she’s a _hot_ alien.”

Nearly choking on her drink, Isabel began to violently cough. Kori lightly patted Isabel’s back in an attempt to help her regain control.

 _Christ_. Jason wasn’t sure which was more ridiculous, Roy’s questionable deduction skills or this entire conversation. He chugged back half his drink as the conversation carried on without him. He can’t even pretend to be surprised at the direction the evening was taking. He’d seen the way Isabel looked Kori up and down before, long and lingering, with something straddling the line between awe and unease in her eyes. It was a look that sometimes made him want to tighten his arm around her, made him want to ask if he was enough for her or if her interest was already waning, changing and moving on without him. 

And yet . . . then there were other times when . . .

Whatever, it wasn’t like he could blame her. The thought alone hurt beyond words but he wasn’t stupid. He _knew_ his teammates were attractive. He’d had his fair share of secretive staring, whenever he was certain Roy and Kori were too busy to notice. And any interest Isabel had in them was obviously returned. If they wanted to pursue this, then that was their prerogative. Who was he to get in the way, or to think he was enough for anyone?

A slight nudge of a shoulder against his – Isabel shifting on the bed into a different sitting position – shocked him out of his thoughts. He didn’t know what he’d missed exactly, but he couldn’t help but make a slight face when he tuned back in to hear Kori saying something along the lines of, “ . . . I assure you I have complete control over my body temperature if that is what worries you – ” though she let the sentence hang when Isabel shook her head and murmured something like, “No, no, but that’s . . . good to know.” She attempted another sip of her drink, her blush intensifying.

“It all makes sense now,” Roy mused as he tapped his fingers against his crossed legs. “You’re intimidated because Kori’s a total babe. That _is_ it, right? Or am I somehow totally off the mark there?”

Jason snorted before he could help himself. 

Again, Isabel let out a small chuckle as she set her glass back down on the nightstand. “No, you’re right. Sorta.” Once more she locked eyes with Kori. She licked her bright red lips. “It’s not that your attractiveness is a problem or anything. It’s just that, well, you’ve kinda got it all? You’re really smart, you’ve all of this strength and confidence, a _great_ figure, and on top of all that you’re also _really_ beautiful. Not to sound like I’m fishing for compliments or anything, because I’m totally not, but really, how is lowly little me supposed to compete with all that? I’m still a little surprised this guy over here noticed me at all with you around,” she said with a gesture towards Jason.

A moment passed before Kori smiled. “You flatter me. Though I must disagree with you being anything remotely close to ‘lowly.’” The way she said it wasn’t dismissive or mocking in the slightest. If anything, Kori sounded pleased by Isabel’s compliments. _But of course she is,_ thought Jason. Who wouldn’t be pleased at the thought of being so openly adored?

And telling by the slight upward curl of Isabel lips and the way she hadn’t looked away from Kori in the last couple of minutes, Isabel seemed pretty pleased as well. 

That figured. Jason downed the rest of his drink.

“Then there’s no problem,” Roy chimed in with a too-wide grin. Jason wanted nothing more than to shove both Roy and his annoying grin off the bed. “You’re gonna do it after all?”

“Well . . .” After taking a long sip of her water, Isabel smacked her lips together and replied, “Sure. _But_ ,” she held up several fingers near Roy’s face, “on a few conditions.”

Eyebrows furrowing together, Roy eyed her hand as if it was completely alien to him. “Conditions?”

“ _I’m_ all right with this. Fun is fun, in my book. But I don’t want to do anything that Jason isn’t okay with. I don’t want to ruin what we have over a night of messing around.”

Roy’s jaw dropped. It took everything Jason had not to burst out into a vicious fit of laughter. He allowed himself was a silent smirk the second Roy’s expression turned itself on him. At least until Isabel’s words finally sunk in and he found himself suddenly wading through his own sea of disbelief.

He let out a loud and baffled, “What?”

Isabel cocked an eyebrow at him, daring him to challenge her. “You heard me, mister. You don’t really need me to repeat myself, do you?”

“You’ll probably have to anyway,” huffed Roy. “The guy’s not very good at accepting compliments, or favors, or anything remotely positive. I swear, you tell a guy he’s looking pretty hot one morning and suddenly he’s looking at you like you grew a second head.”

“I heard you the first time,” said Jason to Isabel in lieu of responding to Roy’s whining, though he wondered where the fuck _that_ comment came from. That had been _weeks_ ago. “I just don’t get why it matters whether I’m cool with this or not. This has nothing to do with me.”

Isabel sighed. “I’m your girlfriend and they’re your friends.”

“An astounding observation you got there. Your point?”

“My _point_ ,” Isabel began as she placed her hand firmly on his shoulder, “is that we all care about you and don’t want to do anything that might hurt you or make you uncomfortable.”

“Can’t hurt if it doesn’t matter to begin with,” Jason said with a shrug. And if it _did_ bother him? Well, tough shit, he’d deal. “Look, you guys do what you want, don’t worry about little old me. I’m a big boy. I can handle myself.”

“Uh huh. You’ve been sulking ever since Roy asked whether or not I’d make out with Kori. Can you blame me for not exactly being convinced?” Isabel’s hand squeezed his shoulder, an action certainly meant to comfort him, but all it did was ignite a sudden burst of guilt deep inside for worrying her at all over such insignificant shit. “Do you feel like a third wheel right now?”

Jason burst out laughing, loud and hard enough that it almost hurt his own ears. Which was probably the absolute worst response he could give, but it wasn’t like he could help it. Could anyone blame him? He’d spent most of his life working around people who didn’t give two shits about him. And now look at him – he can’t escape a conversation where three people won’t let the subject of his “poor fee-fees” drop. 

Of course, he was the only one laughing.

He was also painfully aware of Kori’s and Roy’s eyes burning into him; he could already hear all the unasked questions. He was thankful that, for once, they weren’t voicing them aloud just yet. He wasn’t sure what answers he’d have for them, anyway. 

Calming down, Jason put on his best face and said, “Look, whether you believe me or not, you guys messing around doesn’t bother me. I say if it makes you happy, then do it. Even if it means river dancing naked on the roof or whatever weird shit it is you guys get a kick out of.”

A long silence stretched between them before Isabel said, “That’s not really reassuring, but aside from the river dancing thing, do you really mean that?”

“My nose hasn’t suddenly grown several inches, so I think it’s safe to say yes.”

“ _. . . Nose hasn’t what?_ ” Kori whispered to Roy.

Roy waved his hand in dismissal before whispering back, “ _A joke. I’ll explain later._ ”

Another quiet moment passed. No one moved, as if too scared to break the fragile moment. 

Then a slow smile spread across Isabel’s full, red lips, warm and reassuring. For a moment Jason forgot that he’d just agreed to something he _wanted_ to be okay with, but wasn’t entirely sure if he truly was or not. But she looked certain. He wanted to be, too. 

“If you’re sure then. I guess you two won’t have a problem with my second condition?”

Roy sat up straighter. “Uh, and when you say ‘you two’ you mean . . . ?”

“Why, you and Jason, of course,” Isabel replied. 

Roy nearly jumped out of his skin, as if he’d been given a sudden jolt. “Jason and _me?_ ” he repeated.

“A girls got fantasies too, you know. It’s only fair.” Isabel shrugged nonchalantly. “What can I say, I’m a bit a greedy. Didn’t Jason warn you of that? Besides, I don’t want you two missing out on all the fun.”

“I would not be opposed to this,” Kori chimed in.

Instead of babbling or coming up with a thousand inane excuses like Jason expected, Roy fell uncharacteristically quiet. His fingers fidgeted with the hem of his worn jeans, pulling at the fraying ends as he shot Jason a strange look. Jason could practically feel the archer’s eyes as they moved over him like an unbroken caress. A thoughtful expression passed over Roy’s features, obviously considering – maybe even _imagining_ – what Isabel was requesting of them. He even brought a hand up to rub his chin, which might have been amusing in any situation other than this. 

Unwittingly, Jason wondered what those calloused fingers felt like, if they were as skilled with pleasuring as they were at fighting.

He barely suppressed the shiver that tingled at the base of his spine. 

Roy then caught Jason’s eyes, seeming to gauge his reaction. He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Dunno ‘bout Jaybird here, but I’m cool with this.” At Jason’s slight frown he held his hands up and hastily added, “C’mon, don’t give me that look. It’s just kissing. It’s not like she’s asking me to—”

“I wouldn’t finish that if I were you,” Jason interrupted, his heart suddenly pounding in his chest like a jackhammer.

“—okay, fine, be that way, Mr. I’m Cool With Everything Except Not Really,” Roy trailed off with a roll his eyes. “Point still stands. It’s just a kiss. Or several kisses. Probably with tongue—”

“Hate to break it to ya buddy, but you’re not really helping your cause right now. I know you’re aching for some girl-on-girl action here, but wow, I had no idea you were _this_ desperate.”

Roy snorted. “Yeah, you say that now, but that’s only because you haven’t had a taste of _this_ yet. Gimme five seconds and—”

Isabel cleared her throat loudly enough to startle them both into silence. “Are you two done yet, or is this just your version of foreplay?”

“They can go on all night if you let them,” said Kori while she idly examined her nails. “I believe it may have to do with them both believing they need to have ‘the last word.’ Or perhaps it’s their unresolved sexual tension.”

There’s no missing the hot red flush that suddenly engulfed most of Roy’s face, ears and the back of his neck. “Kori! _Ixnay on the exualsay ensiontay,_ will ya?!”

Eyes widening at the comment, Jason hoped the sudden rush of heat to his face was just a figment of his imagination. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d actually fucking _blushed_ over anything. 

Isabel smile took on a cheeky edge. “No kidding. Since you guys are so eager to one-up each other, you two should go first.”

The still-blushing archer cleared his throat. “No problem. So long as you two hold up on your end, I don’t care who goes first,” he slowly said. His voice sounded off to Jason’s ears, too stilted and enunciated. 

It was never Roy’s forte to force indifference. 

Jason quickly settled with what he hoped sounded like a disinterested, “Whatever.”

A weird feeling suddenly fluttered at the base of his stomach. Dread or anticipation, he couldn’t tell. He realized that he’d been holding his breath ever since Isabel put the two on them on the spot, but he hesitated to release it, too aware of it building in his chest and the thought that everyone else would be able to hear him when he finally did. His eyes darted between Roy and Isabel, fixing themselves on the former when he noticed the archer shuffling across the bed towards him. 

He tensed when Roy’s leg brushed against his.

Isabel and Kori watched in silence, transfixed eyes burning into them.

Unable to help himself, Jason looked up and found himself staring at Roy, his jaw clenching for an entirely different reason now. Up close, he could make out the individual freckles that bespeckled Roy’s cheeks and nose, could hear and see Roy swallow thickly. Out of the corner of his eye, Jason could just make out one of Roy’s hands reaching for Jason’s bicep. It didn’t matter that Jason was wearing his favourite jacket, because when Roy hand connected with his arm, Jason could feel Roy’s body temperature burn right through.

There was that feeling again, the fluttery feeling that made him want to vomit. Jason almost laughed when he recognized that it was a similar, if not the exact same, feeling he’d felt when he’d first met Isabel. When he’d noticed the napkin bearing her cell number she’d somehow slipped into his hands, when he’d realized that she was moving in for a kiss, and again when she said that there was no way in hell she was going anywhere when they were light-years from home, on an alien warship in a completely different galaxy. 

And all Jason could think at the end of that discovery was: _Goddamnit._

Especially now that Roy was already moving in. His heart was somehow beating even faster now, so hard and loud that Jason was certain the others had to have noticed. The hotel room was _far_ too warm for his jacket, but he didn’t dare remove it.

With Roy only centimetres away now, something triggered deep inside Jason.

He had only a split second to decide whether to fight or flee.

Within that same second he also felt Roy’s hand squeeze just a little tighter around his arm, probably out of nerves and fear, and before Jason knew it Roy had inadvertently made the decision for him. There was no turning back. 

With an uneasy smirk, Jason gave a slight tilt of his head and murmured, “What’s the matter, Harper? Scared of widdle old Jason Todd?”

He had only a split-second to register the quick flashes of emotion that burst across Roy’s face: surprise, anger, then something entirely incomprehensible and all the more frightening for it. Before Jason could even attempt to decipher them, Roy lunged forward, practically throwing himself at Jason. His mouth clashed harshly into his, teeth gnashing painfully against his bottom lip. The sudden weight thrown against him nearly set Jason off balance; he almost fell over but quickly caught himself, muscle-memory kicking as his hands shot back for support.

Distantly Jason thought he heard the almost quiet gasp of Kori or Isabel, maybe both, though he couldn’t tell through the pounding of his heartbeat in his ears. It was easily one of the worst kisses he’d ever had, but that didn’t seem to matter to his body as it responded all the same, fluttery feelings and all.

The arrangement was awkward at best, though that didn’t appear to deter Roy at all. For a split second he pulled away, just long enough for Jason to catch his breath and hastily regain his senses, but the next thing he knew Roy had tilted his head for a better angle and was kissing him again. Softer this time, more an actual _kiss_ and less of an uncomfortable mashing of mouths.

And God help him, it _wasn’t bad_ , if the tingling on his lips and the swelling feeling inside his chest was anything to go by.

Apparently Roy shared the sentiment. A soft, barely audible sigh escaped him, its soft vibration heightening the tingling sensation running across Jason’s sensitive lips. He could feel some of the tension in Roy’s body melt away, his fingers relaxing their nervous grip around Jason’s arm, becoming more of an affectionate curl than the desperate grip it started out as. There was a tease of his tongue along the seam of Jason’s lips, just a wet flick, and then he was pulling back, hazy-eyed and panting slightly. The tongue that teased him quickly ran over Roy’s lips – the sight almost making Jason shiver – and then he said with a roughened voice, “Was that okay?”

For a moment Jason wasn’t sure just who exactly Roy was directing the question to, and he almost opened his mouth to reply until it hit him that he was talking to Isabel and Kori. _Of course he was asking them_ , he thought as he resisted the sudden urge to roll his eyes and shrug the whole thing off, as if the kiss had been anything but surprisingly arousing.

It took a moment for Isabel to respond, her face bright red, her eyes a little glazed over. For the second time that night she cleared her throat, her voice sounding strange as she replied, “Y-Yeah! That was great. Or it looked like it was. You two would know better than us.”

Roy’s smile turned a little sheepish. “ _I_ didn’t think it was bad.” He quickly cleared his throat. “But whatever, we did it, now you two have to hold up your end of the bargain.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Suddenly all of Isabel’s bravery and confidence seemed to flounder at the realization that her turn had arrived. 

But she didn’t back out. Slowly, Isabel moved towards her, her eyes not quite reaching Kori’s, who watched her with all the patience in the world. With fidgeting hands, Isabel reached out to embrace the patient princess, pausing for a brief moment before encircling Kori’s toned waist. She seemed oddly hesitant to even touch Kori, even more so when it was obvious just how badly she wanted to. It was a stark contrast to the first time she kissed Jason and every time after, when she had pulled him into her arms with surprising strength, whispered comforting words, and guided the way into an all-consuming heaven. 

Jason’s throat tightened at the memories; he wondered for the hundredth time that night whether he should’ve agreed to this or not.

The side of Kori’s mouth pulled into a soft smile. Wordlessly, she smoothed her hands over Isabel’s tense arms before gracefully slipping them around her back to draw her flush against her larger, statuesque figure. Isabel gasped, arms automatically rising in defense. Her hands awkwardly gripped Kori’s shoulders for dear life. 

Kori chuckled softly. “You choose now of all times to be shy?” she teased under her breath, just loud enough for Jason and Roy to make out. Then, taking Isabel’s chin between her thumb and forefinger, she leaned in and initiated their first kiss of the evening.

Jason wasn’t sure what he expected to happen. Certainly for Roy to let out an over-enthused whoop of joy, but even the archer was quiet beside him, a speechless witness. He couldn’t get past how bizarre it was to see his girlfriend kissing someone other than him – or the bathroom mirror, as she often jokingly did the mornings after they shared a night together while she went about preparing for the rest of the day – but Jason wasn’t really sure how he was _supposed_ to feel about it. Jealous, he assumed. Except he didn’t. Not really. The possessiveness that had gripped him earlier had dissipated, leaving him with something entirely different. 

In fact . . . it felt _a lot_ like the feeling that had flooded him when Roy had kissed him.

Whatever the feeling, it sure as hell didn’t go away while the two ladies took their time kissing each other. Not when Isabel let out a surprised yet eager sounding moan and pressed herself up into Kori’s body, as though afraid the alien princess would pull away at the slightest provocation and deny her any further pleasure. It didn’t go away when Kori smiled against Isabel’s lips and opened her mouth to her, urging her to do the same, and sighing contently when Isabel gladly complied, brief flashes of pink tongues appearing and disappearing between their mouths as they moved seamlessly against each other, their kisses loud and wet and far too arousing for Jason to want to admit. And it especially didn’t leave when Isabel made to move her hand down from Kori’s shoulder, but when she apparently thought better of it and made to return it to its former spot, Kori grabbed her wrist and moved Isabel’s hand for her, down and over a firm breast, the only barrier between flesh meeting flesh the thin material of Kori’s tank-top. Kori’s hand squeezed tightly over Isabel’s to give the okay. The moan that escaped Isabel was even louder as her hand gently fondled Kori’s breast. In an explosion of energy and enthusiasm she began to vigorously knead the clothed flesh, as if she couldn’t and never would get enough. 

Jason’s breath caught in his throat.

Something like a purr rumbled from deep within Kori at Isabel’s enthusiastic touches, feral and pleased and every bit as passionate and lively as her battle cries. Before Jason knew it, Kori had slipped her hands lower to grip either side of Isabel’s ass. With a sudden tug, she fell backwards onto the bed, pulling the Isabel down with her until her body draped itself over hers. A soft gasp of surprise escaped Isabel, but she hastily spread her legs to straddle the alien woman beneath her; Kori smiled brightly up at her, green eyes aflame. She then dove upwards and latched her lips onto the flesh behind Isabel’s ear and began to suck. Isabel drew in a sharp, hissing breath of air. Almost in retaliation, she too began to attack Kori’s exposed neck with wet kisses and nips, haphazardly making her way to Kori’s collarbone, then even lower, stopping carefully at the beginning of Kori’s cleavage before returning back up to claim Kori’s lips in another rough kiss.

It didn’t matter that the two of them had clearly forgotten that they were merely supposed to share a kiss or two, or that they had an audience not even a couple of feet away. The moment their lips had met had been the moment the outside world had ceased to matter to them. Jason knew from the slow and deliberate gyrating of Isabel’s hips over Kori’s, right down to the very familiar rhythm, that there was no way this was ending anytime soon.

But that didn’t surprise him. It didn’t bother him. It should’ve, a voice said at the back of his head, but how the hell was he supposed to care about the “shoulds” of the damn thing when he was the _hardest_ he could remember being in his life?

The soft touch of a calloused hand on his knee gently roused Jason from his daze. He didn’t have to look to know whom the hand belonged to, or the warm breath on his cheek. But even knowing that it was Roy who was touching him, with his hand so close to the inside of his thigh, to where his hardened desire pressed against the confines of his jeans, it didn’t lessen his arousal in the slightest. If anything, it strengthened it.

A tiny whimper built up at the back of Jason’s throat; he flushed at the realization. On instinct he almost pulled away, terrified of Roy’s hand and that look on his face and what Kori had said earlier, but damn it all, the urge to feel that hand press harder, go further, to _release_ him was much stronger.

He met Roy’s eyes, which were half-lidded and fogged with desire. _Breathe_ , Jason thought, eyes flicking from Roy’s eyes to his lips to his hand, then back up again. 

Roy was biting his lower lip, attention trained on Jason’s not-at-all noticeable erection. He swallowed loudly as his hand smoothed itself over Jason’s muscled thigh. “You’re hard,” he said.

“So it would seem,” Jason stated, careful to keep his face and tone as neutral as possible. 

Except Roy wasn’t having it. Wasn’t _buying_ it. Inching further in, he grazed his finger tips over the prominent bulge of Jason’s jeans, nails scraping lightly against the silver teeth of the zipper that confined Jason’s erection. Jason’s mouth fell open, just long enough for Roy to just notice. He then pursed his lips together, determined to stay as quiet as possible. The ladies beside them were making enough noise as it was; they didn’t need him adding anything more to the sensual-sounding symphony they had going on.

Tilting his head, Roy murmured under his breath, “Feels like a hard-on to me. Is it because of them? Or . . . ” Teasing fingers finally cupped his clothed erection. Jason fisted his hands into the beds comforter. He couldn’t. He shouldn’t. Somehow he was okay with Isabel and Kori pleasuring each other – he didn’t know what that meant and he wasn’t sure he wanted to think about that just now – but he _really_ didn’t know if he could handle the thought that he and Roy could also . . . that they . . . in the same night . . . the same _room . . ._

 _And yet . . ._

Gathering his breath and courage, Jason arched an eyebrow at the archer at his side and dared himself to ask, “Y’know, for someone who whined about wanting to see two hot ladies make-out, you sure are doing a good job of ignoring them. Seriously, you have a front row seat and everything. I bet if you asked, they’d even let you join them. Why –”

He bit back his unasked question. _Why are you staring at me?_

“Yeah,” Roy agreed with a faint chuckle as he carefully eyed the bulge he toyed with, as though they both weren’t obviously thrumming with desire and mere seconds away from jumping each other. “You got me there, Jaybird. And trust me, they _are_ hot. So totally worth the ‘whining.’” 

But then he looked up at Jason through long, dark red lashes, and suddenly Jason’s eyes were drawn to the plumpness of Roy’s bottom lip, unable to pull away.

“But I want you, too,” he breathed.

Jason wanted to scream. Ten minutes ago he was frustrated that Roy couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Now he was frustrated that Roy’s big, stupid mouth wasn’t _on_ him, his lips, skin, anywhere, he didn’t care, but no, this couldn’t be happening. How the hell could Roy desire _him_ when Kori and Isabel weren’t even a foot away? When Roy could probably have his pick of anyone, because really, who didn’t like a guy who laughs and smiles easily, especially at himself, who can befriend everyone from aliens to giant crocodile-people, and who can look someone like _him_ in the eye and see more than the invisible stains of blood, filth, and grime that even his own “family” can’t stop cringing at.

Roy could have anyone, but he wanted him. _Him_. Plain-old, used and unwanted Jason Peter Todd. 

Again Roy wet his lips as he stared intently into Jason’s eyes. And it was his husky voice that murmured, “Can I? Please tell me I can. You have no idea how badly I want this, how much I want to make you feel good. I think I’ve gotten off on the thought you of just saying ‘yes’ at least a hund--”

Roy was suddenly jerked out of his nervous chattering when Jason roughly grabbed the back of his neck, digging his fingers tightly into the hair at the back of his neck. “ _Yes_ ,” he forced out between clenched teeth, and before he could talk himself out of it he yanked Roy forward and smashed their mouths together.

And just like that it was like the walls came crashing down inside both of them. Roy let out a deep groan like nothing Jason had ever heard or felt against his lips before. He immediately tilted his head to the side, and like it was a long lost piece to a puzzle Jason hadn’t even known he was trying to solve, they _clicked_ , and it left him gasping for breath and rational thought between bruising kisses.

When they finally pulled apart, panting and clinging to each other like a lifeline, Roy turned his head and pressed his cold nose to Jason’s cheek, gasping against both it and Jason’s ear as he fought to regain his breath. “That was – ” He stopped as a shaky chuckled suddenly erupted from him. “Oh my God. I can’t even . . . ”

Roy didn’t finish the sentence. The next thing Jason knew he was being pushed onto his back, with Roy crawling over him and attacking his neck. Teeth grazed and lips sucked against sensitive skin with a force that was sure to leave dark marks to blossom across his scarred skin come morning, and there seemed to be no foreseeable end in sight. Instead of shoving the archer off and demanding he watch what he was doing, Jason grunted and clasped a hand over Roy’s back, right between the shoulder blades, and held on for dear life.

The sudden, loud creaking of the bed and the soft brush of a tank top landing against his shoulder dragged Jason’s attention off of Roy and to the side. Blinking rapidly to clear his thoughts, he realized that Kori and Isabel were way ahead of them. Somewhere between kissing and groping they’d rolled over, switching positions and ditching their tops and Isabel’s bra in the process. Kori’s gold-tanned body pressed Isabel’s firmly into the bed, hands roaming liberally across her fair skin. The only article of clothing left on Isabel was the mid-thigh skirt that was now pushed up to her waist. With legs spread wide and thighs tightly hugging Kori’s waist, Jason could just make out a golden-tanned hand working between their writhing bodies in a circular motion, much like the one Kori began to lavish upon one of Isabel’s hard and pink nipples with her tongue, which elicited soft, drawn out moans out of her. Back arching, Isabel’s hips moved perfectly in sync to Kori’s hand. 

As though suddenly aware of an audience, Isabel opened her eyes and met Jason’s gaze. Her mouth fell partly open, panting softly. Jason could feel Isabel’s eyes move over him and Roy like an approving caress, taking in the sight of the archer marking every inch of skin he’d been given permission to touch. Breath hitching, she bit her lip, obviously pleased with what she saw. 

When their eyes met again, neither of them said a word. They didn’t have to. All it took was for Jason to nod once, a silent answer to an unasked question. A large smile broke out across Isabel’s features. Then her eyes slid shut and her lips pressed firmly together, barely withholding a moan that threatened to escape as Kori trailed her lips downwards to tease the expanse of her belly and dip of her navel.

The quick hiss of a zipper being dragged down yanked Jason out of his pleasure-filled daze. He pulled his head up to watch Roy making quick work of his restrictive jeans. It didn’t take long; nimble and practiced fingers undid the button and dug in-between where Jason’s white t-shirt and jeans met and yanked the latter down. He muttered a curse when it briefly caught between the bed and Jason’s ass, which prompted a loud bark of a laugh out of him. Roy made a face before muttering something about a “cock-blocking bed” and pushed at the small of Jason’s back, urging him upwards. Jason complied, arching his back upwards, and his laughter quickly turned into a breathless gasp as Roy pulled down not only his jeans but also his briefs. 

Jason shuddered at the sudden coolness and vulnerability and instinctively began to curl his body inwards, but then Roy’s hand gently touched his knees and gave one a light pat. Smiling down at him, Roy pulled back so that he sat on his knees and unclipped his belt. The clacking sound of metal shot straight through Jason, and it took everything he had not to stare at Roy as his best friend made quick and short work of his clothes. 

Instead he forced his eyes upwards, fixed on some insignificant spot on the ceiling. His eyes briefly outlined the sides of the ceiling fan as his heart pounded in his chest and ears and seemingly his entire body.

But his attention was coaxed back down when Roy slipped his hands around Jason’s legs and gently persuaded them down to a level and width that allowed the archer in with relative ease. 

Roy smiled down at him, eyes crinkling around the edges, hands shaking slightly wherever they rubbed against Jason’s skin. As he lowered himself down, hips aligning with his, Jason felt the first brush of Roy’s hard and hot erection against his. He couldn’t contain the sharp hiss that escaped him; instantly his arms went up around Roy and clasped his hands to Roy’s shoulder blades, where he pressed and urged the older man to just _hurry the fuck up_ already. 

But Roy just squeezed his eyes shut and took his sweet old time. He didn’t move once he was fully atop of him either, despite the constant touching of their erections, trapped between their stomachs, or the sudden jerk of Jason’s impatient hips. 

God. He was hard to get and yet so eager to please. How fucking embarrassing was that?

The wet and fleshy sounds and moans coming out of the ladies beside them _really_ weren’t helping, either.

“Fuck,” Roy cursed at the end of a long, drawn-out sigh before finally opening his eyes. For a split second – that felt much longer than it really could have been – Jason wondered how the hell their positions changed so dramatically, Roy being so content to take his sweet-ass time when before he was just itching for some action.

Adjusting his legs so that Jason’s thighs tightly hugged his hips, Roy made a low noise Jason couldn’t quite classify. “ _God_ , Jay,” Roy sighed again. He lowered his head and gave his hips an experimental roll. Jason inwardly hissed and dug his nails deeply into the flesh of Roy’s back. If it hurt the man above him, Roy didn’t let on. He only laughed again, as if they weren’t a hair-thread away from fucking like rabbits, as if the sting of nails cutting into flesh didn’t hurt him at all.

Roy shook his messy red hair out of his face. “You have no idea how much I want to fuck you into the mattress right now,” he confessed. 

“Then why don’t you?” Jason blurted, his body just itching to get a move on already.

“Are you kidding me? And scare you off before things really get good? No way.” Jason could feel the gentle rumble of Roy’s laugh where their bare chests met, almost as if Roy’s laughter ricocheted inside of him. It felt strange, but oddly pleasant. Yet not pleasant enough to distract him from the situation at hand.

When Jason didn’t respond, Roy offered him a semi-guilty shrug. “Sorry, it’s just . . . we probably shouldn’t go too fast, y’know? You seemed really spooked earlier. I’d be kind of an ass if I just went at you like some insensitive dog.”

“That didn’t seem to stop you before,” Jason pointed out, loud enough to just cover up the erotic sounds beside them, though he flushed all the same. He could just make out Kori and Isabel’s movements out of the corner of his eyes, too hard and intriguing to ignore. But he couldn’t ignore Roy either, as annoying as the archer was being, or the hard-on that was screaming at him from all the way down between his legs.

Roy scoffed. “Only because you were being an ass!” But that didn’t seem to matter at all, as Roy smirked and ducked his head so that his mouth brushed against Jason’s ears. “But Kori’s right, isn’t she? You _like_ being an ass to me. It’s only fair I return the favor, hmm?”

Jason let out a loud groan and threw his head back against the messed-up covers of the bed. “All right, I get it already. Would you stop screwing around—”

“And _actually_ screw you?” Roy hummed thoughtfully. The sound tickled Jason’s ear and neck to the point where he tensed and shuddered, though nowhere near as much as he did when Roy suddenly took the lobe of Jason’s between his teeth and softly rolled it about. 

Jason curled his toes and arched his back, tilted his head to allow the archer more room to maneuver. He wanted it, this, _Roy_ , wanted everything so goddamn much, he felt like he was going to burst. 

He’d never had anything before them, any of them. Now it was all within his reach, and as much as a part of him warned that this was all too good to be true, another part screamed that he snatch everything and run. 

At the last second Jason’s teeth dug deep into his bottom lip to hold back the pathetic-sounding _“please?”_ that bubbled at the back of his throat. 

But then a tiny jolt of panic struck through him when Roy pulled his head back enough to look him in the eye. For a moment Jason wondered if he _did_ beg Roy to get a move on after all, if he hadn’t caught the words back before they could be released. 

If he had, Roy made no sign of any acknowledgement. Instead he leaned back in for another kiss, slower this time, a gentle massaging of sensitive flesh as he murmured against him, “It’s okay, I’ll take care of everything.”

And before Jason could pull back and ask what exactly that meant, Roy brought his arms up by Jason’s neck, firmly planted them into the mattress, and ground his hips down into Jason’s in a long and hard stroke. Jason let out a sharp gasp at the same time as Roy’s sigh and clung to the moving body above him as his senses were shocked with pleasure. Then Roy rolled his hips again, and the shock smoothed into something deeper, something that made Jason’s toes want to curl nearly to the point of pain. 

Instinctively his thighs gripped Roy’s sides as he pushed up and against him, awkwardly at first, as though he had tripped over his own feet and was a step behind. But Roy noticed – it shouldn’t have surprised Jason that he did, but he _did_ – and he paused just long enough for their movements to align the same as their bodies did. And when Roy began to move again, meeting Jason’s with each roll, it was all that Jason could do but cling and move with him. 

Unbidden, he closed his eyes and gratefully rode the rhythm Roy had set, wanting it, needing it, yes yes _yes._

They were doing this, they were really doing this, and it felt good. Better than good. It felt . . . _right_ in so many ways. The press of Roy’s warm abdomen against his, the slight burn of his thighs being pushed back and to the side by Roy’s toned legs, the steady tempo of Roy’s hot and heavy erection against his, almost piercing in its pleasure, the soft panting of Roy’s hot breath wafting over his neck. 

It lit Jason’s body on fire. 

His hands scrambled across Roy’s back, never once satisfied with settling on any one spot for long. They trailed over Roy’s shoulders and down over the archer’s arms, where they felt the gentle flexing of his muscles from the exertion of keeping himself propped up over him. Roy groaned; the guttural sound shot straight through Jason and had him shuddering. 

Opening his eyes, Jason met the sight of messy red hair swaying to and fro. Roy’s head bent to the point where his forehead was almost touching his shoulder, his hair tickling Jason’s cheek and neck with every sway. Without a second thought, Jason brought his hands forward and carded them through Roy’s hair, pushing as much of it back as he could before he leaned up, clamped his mouth over an expanse of pale, freckled skin, and sucked. 

Roy’s breathing and thrusting stuttered, pausing for a glorious second where Jason swore he felt like every inch of him was covered by the man above him, until Roy quickly resumed their prior pacing. Or what appeared to be, as Jason swore he could feel Roy’s pants coming out heavier, his thrusts just a little harder. Jason moaned at the thought and lightly added teeth to his sucking, just enough to dig into the soft skin without breaking it.

A deep groan rumbled all throughout Roy’s throat. “Mmm, _yeah_ , like that,” he panted across Jason’s neck, which he began to litter with sloppy and wet open-mouthed kisses. “Mark me up, baby.”

Under any other circumstances, Jason would have rolled his eyes, but instead he moaned and gave the archer exactly what he wanted, sucking and biting until he was certain the marks he left behind would remain for a good week or so. Before he could add anything more, Roy pulled back just enough to offer the other side. 

Jason gladly accepted. 

Latching onto the offered side and giving it the same loving treatment, sparks of bliss burst inside him at Roy’s soft gasps and whimpers and the way his hands tightly curled into the bed beside Jason’s head. The sounds Roy emitted only intensified when Jason pushed back Roy’s hair, nails grazing against his scalp. He continued the motion, delighted upon discovering that Roy could hardly keep his mouth shut at the intimate gesture. Jason knew he often teased Roy for having a big, loud mouth that never knew when to quit, but _Christ_ , he didn’t want Roy to stop. He wanted to take every sound, from the quietest sigh to the loudest moan, and keep them with him, forever burned into his memories, to replay at his leisure during his moments alone in his bed or shower or god, anywhere and everywhere sounded so _good_ – 

Panting, Jason let go of Roy’s neck and immediately pulled him down for another kiss that was full of sharp teeth and soft, wet tongue. Without pausing, Jason slipped his hands down Roy’s back and gripped his hips, thumbs digging into the dip of skin above jutting hipbone. With a gentle push, Roy fell to the side and then onto his back, with Jason rolling on top of him. 

Roy pulled away from the kiss, his bright eyes becoming transfixed with the sight of Jason hovering over him. “H-Hey,” he protested weakly, “I told you I’d take care of it.”

“Hm. Is that what you meant?” Smirking, Jason leaned up just enough to get a better look at the action that was going on between their flushed, sweaty bodies. The heads of their cocks were flushed an angry red and were wet with pre-come, which left a small trail across their stomachs with each press. “Because it doesn’t really _look_ like you mind all that much.”

“Fuckin’ asshole.” Roy’s unwavering eyes followed Jason’s as though hypnotized. He barely bit back a high-pitched whimper at a particularly sharp thrust. “That’s not what I m-meant at all.”

Keeping their steady tempo, Jason lowered his body back down and indulged himself with a few more nips along Roy’s already bruising jaw line. He could just make out the slight scratch of an oncoming early-morning stubble, and if anything, it just made lavishing Roy’s jaw even _better._

“Then what did you mean?”

He felt Roy swallow, as well as rough fingers carding through and gripping his hair at the back of his head, locking him against Roy’s neck, urging him to continue. Jason gladly did so.

“Well, I kinda meant what I originally said, but not because I’m not totally okay with this,” Roy quickly gestured to their flipped positions. “But because, y’know, you’re always doing everything for us pretty much all the time. I just thought maybe I’d give you a break, give something back to you since you give us so much . . . ” A shaky, barely breathless laugh escaped him. “What’d you think I meant?”

Jason pulled back just enough to look Roy in the eyes. He waited a few seconds – a couple of thrusts – before giving Roy something like a shrug. “Honestly, I just thought it was just more of your ridiculous posturing.” He smirked at the indignant face Roy made in response. “What’s the matter? ‘Big Macho Man Roy Harper’ feeling like he’s incapable of making me scream the walls down?” Lowering his head back down, he grazed his lips against Roy’s as he murmured, “Hmm, but ‘Big Macho Man Roy Harper’ sure is _generous_ , now isn’t he?”

Jason’s smirk dropped immediately from his lips the moment he felt Roy’s free hand grab him roughly on the curve of his ass. Roy then quickly took control of their pace, his hands moving Jason’s hips with a strong push-and-pull motion, smoothly guiding him in a way that had Jason’s biting his lip against a moan. 

Roy’s other hand, still at the back of Jason’s head, gave it just enough of a push to close the scant centimetres between them and bring him into another long and wet kiss. But his hand didn’t stay there. As Roy’s tongue tangled with his and urged soft gasps out of him, his hand slipped down along Jason’s warm, sweaty back and down between them, where he took both of their erections into his firm grip. 

“I dunno,” he whispered back against – practically _into_ – Jason’s mouth as he gave them both a single, experimental stroke. He smiled when Jason’s mouth fell open. “You tell me.”

He might have, except Jason quickly forgot what it was Roy had been responding to, if he had been at all. He could only able to focus on and follow the movement of Roy’s hands, the one that followed his body and urged it to flow seamlessly with their steadily increasing beat, while the other toyed with the head of his cock, smearing pre-come over their hot lengths before giving them surer strokes. Then all he could think was _please, please, please_ as he panted loudly with each roll and stroke, each time Roy’s thumb caught and flicked at the head of his cock. His hips gave into Roy’s direction, hands sliding up from Roy’s hips to plant themselves over Roy’s firm stomach for balance. 

The mattress groaned in protest as the bed was rocked to and fro. The head of the frame banged into the hotel wall with each forceful thrust, but Jason didn’t care because that only made it _better_. And when he glanced to the side he could just make out the parallel motions of Isabel and Kori’s moving forms, limbs and hands clutching as hips jerked against each other, and _fuck_ , he suddenly couldn’t get the image of the sets of them mixing together out of his head, of going down on Kori while she pleasured Isabel with that hot tongue of hers, with Roy stroking him open with deep, sure fingers, of the four of them sprawled together and touching together and sharing kisses and – 

And he didn’t want the images to leave, the feelings they gave him to flitter away, didn’t want to forget, _he didn’t want to forget_ , he _wanted –_

Ducking his head, Jason squeezed his eyes shut and rode and rode and _rode_ for all he was worth, hitting each buck of Roy’s hips and tight stroke of his calloused hand perfectly, pants and gasps complimented by Roy’s senseless stream of words, every other syllable alien to Jason’s ears, though their meaning was still clear. With pleasure singing so high and sweetly in his blood, Jason couldn’t deny them. _Ride me, touch me, kiss me, feel me, come with me, be with . . ._

Clamping his mouth down on Roy’s collar bone, Jason bit down hard and groaned as his body seized and clenched and _came_ harder than he could remember in a long, long time. 

His limbs shivered, hips a stuttering staccato as he was blown away. It was only the dig of Roy’s nails into his skin and the insistent whimper in his ear that pulled him out of his blissful haze, where he just registered the insistent grind of Roy’s hips, still racing towards release.

Ignoring his shaky, protesting limbs, Jason pushed himself up and slipped his hand down to take the place of Roy’s still stroking, still firm hand. Without pause he gripped the hot length and jerked it the way Jason did to himself whenever he edged closer and closer to release. He smiled softly with relief when Roy shuddered and keened at his touch. Leaning down, he pressed kiss after kiss to his best friends moaning mouth until he felt Roy’s hands scramble across his back for purchase. Roy’s hips faltered then _ground_ right into Jason; he threw his head back and came with a sob-like cry.

Jason was certain deeply-engraved crescent marks would still be in his back by morning, but in that moment he didn’t care. It was worth it to watch Roy writhe through his climax, panting harder than he’d ever seen him, his skin flushed red and sweaty and more enticing than it had any right to be.

Slowly coming down, Roy gave a soft moan as he slid his hands down Jason’s warm and sweaty back, eyes hooded as he gazed up at him with an unreadable expression. Before Jason could even think to ask what Roy was thinking, he’d already grabbed Jason’s hand and brought it up to his lips. 

Jason’s breath caught in his throat as Roy’s tongue darted out between kiss-bruised lips and lapped at his palm, licking away at the sweat and come that coated his sensitive flesh. He shivered as that same tongue trailed up his fingers, light as a feather, heat somehow shooting south despite his cock’s weak protest.

“Is that supposed to be hot?” he forced out as Roy took one finger in his mouth and sucked.

“Kinda,” Roy murmured around the digit. The soft rumble of Roy’s voice vibrating around his finger did horribly wonderful things to him. “Is it working?”

“Hmm. I dunno.” Pulling his finger out of Roy’s mouth, Jason lowered himself to brush his lips against Roy’s in a slow, lazy kiss. “You tell me,” he breathed before urging Roy’s tongue to come out and play.

“What’s this, eager to start a second round already?”

Jason felt the interruption more than heard it; Kori’s husky voice crooned right into his ear, hot breath tickling his skin. 

He glanced up at her. Kori’s long messy hair formed a thick curtain that framed her face as she leaned down and captured his lips with hers. Her mouth was warmer than he could ever imagine, and her tongue even warmer as it slid inside and tangled with his. She pulled away with a wet smack and smiled broadly at both him and Roy, eyes half-lidded and full of more affection than Jason knew what to do with. He’d only seen Kori make an expression like it once before, when they’d been out in space on a journey to liberate Tamaran, but it was a look he knew he’d give anything to see more of.

“Would you like to share any of that with me?”

There weren’t enough words in the English dictionary for Jason to say how much he wanted to, so instead he shut up and pulled Kori into another kiss, swallowing her tongue along with her pleased sighed. She tasted a little sweet and a lot like Isabel. The taste alone threatened to drive him him wild all over again.

The bed dipped as another body manoeuvred around it to the foot of the bed. Isabel, he assumed, which was confirmed as he heard his girlfriend’s sweet voice nearby.

“Since they’re busy...”

Roy chuckled. The bed dipped again as Jason felt Roy shift from beneath him to sit up. “C’mere, I’ll entertain you.”

Before long, Jason couldn’t tell whose limbs were brushing against his sides, whose hand was stroking him or pinching his nipples, or whose lips were biting his ear, sucking marks along his neck or massaging his lips with slow, sweet kisses. But that was all right; he willingly lost himself in the beautiful blur of pleasure, thinking that if it were all a dream, then he’d be happy to never wake up.

-

Jason wasn’t sure when he awoke the next day, and he didn’t really care. Squinting against the light of day – early morning or late afternoon, he couldn’t tell – he yawned and pushed himself up. Dragging himself out of bed, he slowly made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself. 

When he returned, he paused near the foot of the bed when he realized that Isabel was awake and was staring at him. She was naked – they were all still naked, Jason realized with a soft shiver – and her head was using Kori’s hip as a pillow.

“Morning,” she said quietly.

Jason nodded, swallowing before he echoed the sentiment back to her. He took care to crawl back into and across the bed without disturbing its still-sleeping residents, choosing the empty space at the head of the bed to sit, where he rested his back against the bed frame. 

Isabel watched him from where she lay, brushing back her tangled hair with the tips of her fingers.

“How’re you feeling?”

A moment passed before Jason replied. “Good. Strange, but good.” He cleared his throat. “You?”

“Good. A little sore,” she said with a cheeky grin, “but you won’t hear any complaints from my end.”

Jason nodded, unable to find the energy to fully return Isabel’s good humor and spirit. He said and did nothing until Isabel reached out and placed her hand on his leg. Cupping his hand over hers and squeezed, he wasn’t at all sure what to do or say, or if there was anything he _should_ do or say.

But maybe that was all right; Isabel spoke for him.

“You okay? Are you having regrets?”

It took another moment before Jason found the words to respond with, at first shaking his head before he cleared his throat (which felt rough in an oddly pleasant way). “No,” he said, surprising himself. “No, not really. You?”

Isabel shook her head once. “No. Does that scare you?”

“Maybe a little.” Snorting, he added, “See, I’d say something about it making me shiver in my boxers. But they’re all the way over there, so that’s not really true.”

“No, not really,” she agreed with a faint chuckle. Slowly she sat up, careful to remove herself from underneath Roy’s arm, which he must have thrown over Isabel’s waist at some point during the night. (And, as much as Jason was beginning to think that it should startle him, the fact that Roy had done so didn’t bother him in the slightest. That Isabel didn’t appear bothered felt acceptable, as well.)

Shuffling over to sit beside him, Isabel rested her head on his shoulder and let out a tired yet content sounding sigh.

“I know this will sound weird, but I can’t help but think it was meant to happen.”

“Not the weirdest thing I’ve heard this week. Roy’s got the award for that one. Pretty tough competition, I’ll admit.”

“Hush you,” Isabel retorted, gently smacking Jason’s chest with the back of her hand. “I’m being serious.” She glanced up at him, eyes wide and trusting and not at all hesitant. “I meant what I said. What happened last night, I think it was a good thing.”

“Okay. Why?”

“Couple of reasons. Mainly because I just feel really good right now. Don’t you feel good? You look like you do. Odd nervous ticks aside,” she said with a teasing tone, eyeing the way Jason’s right hand was tapping a non-distinct beat against hiss naked thigh.

“Guess I do,” he admitted.

“But?”

He shrugged, frowning slightly. “But what?”

“... Nothing.” She glanced away and covered her sudden yawn with her free hand. “Okay, not nothing. It’s just – don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s like you three live in your own little world. This small, secluded world that no one else can get access to.”

Jason snorted again, instantly reminded of the island Kori frequently talked both Roy and him into returning for extended vacations. “You’re not wrong.”

“’Course I’m not. When am I ever?” She gave a dramatic, exasperated sigh. “But really, I’m not kidding. It’s obvious you’re all really close, but it’s more than that. I’ve seen people get close the way you three have, tightly-knit and borderline inseparable, but there’s something else here. I’m not even sure I can explain it.” She paused. “They’re _really_ protective of you, you know. Kinda like they’re the bodyguards to your heart or something.”

“It’s a little too early for cheesy lines like that.”

“ _Never_ too early,” she protested with a quirked eyebrow, prompting a small smirk out of him.  
“To be honest,” she began again, “I was beginning to feel like I was maybe getting of the way of something. Between the three of you, I mean.”

“But?”

She glanced back at him. “But for a moment there, it honestly felt like they let me into your private world. If just for the night.”

“And you’re seriously okay with that?”

Isabel grinned. “Weren’t you just listening? I feel _good_. If the option to do this again ever came up, I don’t think I could say no. Guessing from the noises you were making last night,” she murmured sweetly, leaning up to brush her lips against his cheek in a light kiss, “I don’t think you could, either. And that’s a _good_ thing, really.”

. . . She was right, Jason realized not a moment later. As strange as a part of him felt about the whole thing, another felt _satisfied_ in an unexplainable way that he knew would be craving more at a later date. As troublesome as it sounded to the cautious, logical part of him, it _had_ felt good, in more ways than one.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go back to the time before last night. Not even if he had the chance.

“I guess it is,” he agreed quietly, too aware of the hint of awe in his own voice.

“ _Mmph_ , I concur,” Roy grumbled against the messy and strewn comforter, not even bothering to lift his face to speak.

Whelp, that certainly killed the mood. “Sorry, can’t hear you all the way down there,” Jason said with a roll of his eyes. “Gonna have to lift your face so I can properly hear whatever ridiculous thing you have to say this time.”

Roy lifted his head and rested his chin against his forearm. “ _Eat_ me,” he said, voice thick with fatigue, but still much clearer than before. A smirk formed across his lips. “Oh wait, you already did. Never knew your mouth was so talented, Mr. Todd.”

Jason grabbed a nearby pillow and threw it at Roy’s head.

“Hey!” he dodged the soft, fluffy weapon of choice. “We had a verbal agreement, no killing each other in the morning, no matter what I say or do. _Kori_ , it’s only,” he paused to check the clock on the night table, “one PM and Jaybird’s already breaking the rules!”

Grunting, Kori rolled over onto her back, a scowl planted firmly on her face as she opened an eye in Jason’s direction. 

“Jason, be a good boy and destroy Roy so that I may have my rest.”

Grinning, Jason couldn’t help but take delight in the utterly betrayed look on Roy’s face. If there was a small, glowing feeling inside of him at the warmth and intimacy that the four had shared not even a couple of hours ago, then it would go unnoticed until later in the day, when a strange yet not unwanted contentment would embrace him in a way he would be certain he’d never felt before. It would be a feeling he’d never want to let go of.

But that was later. There were more pressing matters at hand at the moment.

“With pleasure, your highness.”


End file.
